Russell Westbrook Will Miss The Beginning Of the First Round

The Houston Rockets have announced that the team will be without star point guard Russell Westbrook with a quadriceps strain. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski would go on to report the team expects him to miss the entire first round.

As @Jonathan_Feigen reports, sources say Russell Westbrook is expected to minimally miss the start of Houston's first-round series with his strained right quad muscle. Westbrook's return will depend upon how he responds to treatment.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 13, 2020

The Rockets are currently slated to play the Chris Paul-led Thunder in the opening round. Without the tenacious defense of Westbrook, vintage CP3 could take over.

Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo dealt with the same quadricep injury that took him a full year to recover. Unfortunately for Houston, Westbrook doesn’t have that kind of time. The Rockets will instead rely on MVP James Harden to carry the the team into the second round.

Can the Rockets stay afloat?

Houston General manager Daryl Morey made the trade last July for Westbrook to prepare for this moment. Westbrook’s ability to share the regular season workload saved Harden’s ammo for the playoffs. No question Harden has been dreadful the deeper the playoffs go, but Houston believes saving his energy will change that.

For those of you that put money on a cake walk series for Houston…this injury should make you sweat. Without fans…James Harden can’t rely on a packed Toyota Center for a game 7.

Players like LeBron James have returned to action just a few weeks after this type of quadricep injury, but the Demarcus Cousins and Victor Oladipo recoveries should raise some eyebrows. The Rockets might be in trouble.

Hard to ignore Tucker Carlson pushing higher ratings than the NBA…Westbrook missing the first round will only make matters worse.